AJE Earring Challenge: Textured and Amber

Week 16 (or is it 17?) of the Art Jewelry Elements Earring Challenge. This week I decided to search among my own polymer clay beads for a source of inspiration. I came across a pair, 35mm/1-3/8" tall, basic black, impressed with a geometric design, and highlighted with mica powders.

Attached to a pair of handmade silver-finished earwires with ivory glass pearl beads, another example of Shelley Graham Turner's  "Dressed-Up Earwires". Glammed up with pairs of amber-coloured Czech glass dangles and some silver petite lilies filigree bead caps from Double Angel Design.

Polymer clay beads are a great earring option as they are relatively light for their size. Visit the AJE Earring Challenge Pinterest board anytime for lots of great designs... see you next week!

Glass and Silver: AJE Week 15

Still playing catch-up for Sunday past! Here's a pair for the Art Jewelry Elements weekly Earring Challenge. Back in August I designed a necklace using artisan porcelain and some lovely beads by Perth, Australia glass-maker Faye Blennerhassett of feyglass. These earrings, featuring more of Faye's lamp-work are a match to that necklace (which I still have and wear every chance I get!) 

Trinity Embossed Flower Charms and 2/0 Turquoise Picasso Czech Glass finish these nicely. Check the AJE Pinterest board often... new earrings are being added all the time.

See you next week!

AJE Challenge: All Purple, All the Time

Hard to believe it's been ten days since my last post! I had applied a while back for the second quarter of Art Jewelry Elements' Earring Challenge. I just got the email early this morning that I was accepted to join their Pinterest group for the weekly show-and-tell. I must get busy and catch up, as I've had some unproductive weeks lately!

Here is a pair I will assign to Week 14, which I believe is April 1-7:

All Purple, All the Time earrings

The starting point of my design is a pair of porcelain links: "Newt Charm Set in Teal & Red" by Nancy Schindler of The Rabbit Muse. These are attached to "Dressed-Up Ear-wires" in "purple-on-purple", handmade by Shelley Graham Turner and available in her Etsy shop Tori Sophia. The dangles consist of Greek ceramic spikes in "purple splash", with tiny light amethyst Czech faceted cathedral beads, attached via dark lavender DMC cotton (#208). As a lifelong lover of fabric and fiber, I am endeavoring to insinuate cotton, linen, and silk as often as possible in my designs. The earrings are an almost-shoulder-duster 85mm/3+3/8" length from the top of the ear-wires.

Please drop by the AJE Pinterest board anytime for the latest designs by lots of talented designers.

Colourful Crane Mobile

Here's a fun way to display all those paper cranes. This is in beautiful spring colours but would be stunning in all-white, too.

The full instructions for this mobile are on the Instructables website. Here is the worm's-eye view:

Don't have any paper cranes lying around? Here's a quick video from Youtube. A good craft for some downtime after the chocolate rush wears off tomorrow!

 


 Happy Easter/Spring Day to all you bloggers! 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Fresh Baked Jewelry: New on Etsy

I get excited whenever I notice or hear about a new shop on Etsy. I try to spend a part of each day checking what my favorite artisans are up to (I know, I know, it's hard work but I refuse to back away from a challenge LOL).

Sometimes I luck in and notice a brand new shop... 

My personal pick: Teal Leaf Bracelet featuring artisan ceramics

Other times I hear about it from the source! Allow me to ring the bell and sound the trumpet! The lovely Lynda Carson has been selling her hand-crafted jewellery for several years in boutiques near her California home. As of three days ago, lovers of handmade can now find Lynda's creations at her very own Etsy shop!

I have been following Lynda's story as she stretches her creative muscles on her blog Fresh Baked Designs. Lynda is also an avid traveler who lends her talents to fundraising for a community in the far-off African country of Ghana. Many of her designs have featured the amazing hand-painted glass beads of that region.

I hope you will all join me in welcoming Lynda to the Etsy community. Lynda invites everyone to check out her shop and her blog (*read this post for a special bonus*).